Dubbed the "Oscars of global manufacturing," the Lighthouse Factory designation recognizes world-leading standards in smart manufacturing. The World Economic Forum has recently released its latest list of global Lighthouse Factories, with NIO's F2 factory in Hefei, Anhui, earning a place on the list. It is the province's first Lighthouse Factory dedicated to complete new energy vehicle manufacturing.

According to the World Economic Forum, the factory leverages seamless coordination among in-vehicle AI, battery-swapping networks, and a digital twin platform to reduce product time-to-market by 44 percent. Ninety percent of its R&D workflows are automated, while the production system supports more than 3.6 million vehicle configuration options. The shortest lead time from customer order to vehicle roll-off is just 14 days. Thanks to these capabilities, the factory has been recognized as a customer-focused Lighthouse Factory in the new energy vehicle sector.

The fully digitized, end-to-end smart factory officially began operations in 2022. Powered by self-developed industrial AI algorithms and large AI models, 80 percent of its manufacturing scenarios now rely on intelligent AI-driven decision-making. With this latest addition, Hefei is now home to eight global Lighthouse Factories, ranking third among all Chinese cities.